Context:
Department of Consumer Affairs and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) recently came up with guidelines for ‘dark patterns’.
About Dark Patterns:
- It refers to strategies intentionally crafted to manipulate users into making certain choices that may not be in their interest or to influence user behaviour that benefits the company.
- Common Example: When a user adds an item to their shopping cart, a dark pattern may be employed by automatically adding additional items to the cart without the user’s explicit consent that can mislead the user into purchasing more items. This is called “Basket Sneaking”.
- Other Types –
- Bait and Switch: Advertising one product or service but delivering another often of lower quality
- Nagging (Persistent criticism)
- Confirm shaming
- False Urgency
- Forced action
- Hidden costs
- Disguised ads
- Subscription traps
Consumer Protection Act, 2019:
- Established Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) in 2020.
- Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Council as an advisory council with tenure of 3 years.
- Headed by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
- Establishment of Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Central, State and District levels.
- Establishment of Consumer Mediation cells
- Notification of Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 where all rules of direct selling extended to E-commerce.
- Product Liability: A manufacturer or product service provider or product seller will be held responsible to compensate for injury or damage caused by defective product or deficiency in services.
- No fee for filing cases up to ₹5 lakhs.
- Consumer Courts: Complaints can be filed in a consumer court where the complainant resides/works
- Pecuniary Jurisdiction –
- District: Up to ₹1 crore
- State: ₹1 crore to ₹10 crores
- National: Above ₹10 crores
Source: The Hindu
